Ballad of Fallen Angels
by LdOFDestruction
Summary: The remaining members of Team 7 have issues with the loss of Sasuke to his ambitions. Will the upcoming Holiday season and a certain mission be able to help them cope and move on?Implied NaruHina, ShikaTem, NejiSaku


A/N: Hello. This is my first attempt at Naruto fan fiction, for I usually write for another series. I only watch the Anime (don't read the manga, so I know little to nothing more about after the training period). This story takes place around the filler episodes, so it probably isn't much of a spoiler unless you watch the US version. Because of the time of the year, it is a Christmas fic and I hope I can finish the entire fic by Christmas, and I will work hard to try.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**Ballad of Fallen Angels**: Part I

_A sigh of breath slowly escaped the young man's parched, dry lips. The cool autumn wind hit his face subtly, yet causing his entire body to shiver under its natural power. He tilted his head to the left continuously until he heard a crack, slowly bringing his head back to its original position. Sitting quietly on cold park bench, he contemplated the dire situation he found himself in. Would his next moves be smart and intelligent or just plain idiotic? His right hand slowly lifted until it rested firmly against his chin as his elbow dropped and rested pointing directly into his knee. "How in the world will I get out of this?" He asked himself quietly as his eyes closed. The breeze halted, as he sat there with a stoic face of concentration painted over his normal face of little expression. As his concentration grew to a crescendo, losing his own self of reality in his thought, a hand placed itself on his shoulder. Startled by the phantom hand, he immediately jumped to his feet._

"_Oh, I'm sorry," a sincere apology came from a voice accompanying the phantom hand, "I didn't mean to startle you. I, um, well…" The young man was in the process of regaining his composure as another sigh escaped his mouth, despite his knowledge of mannerisms that should be practiced in front of the opposite sex, "I'm sorry." He brushed out the wrinkles on his black jacket and slowly his breath returned to normal pace. The young man turned toward the girl standing in front of him, "What is it?" he asked coldheartedly, "I'm busy."_

"_Sasuke-kun, I was wondering," the female blushed despite her obvious attempts to act cool. Her lips moved, but no sound accompanied the action except for a nervous chuckle, "Well it is almost Christmas and…um…have you seen Naruto?" She painfully forced out some kind of phrase to cover up her nervousness. Uchiha's stare continued its painful, silent interrogation of the young Haruno girl. "No." He answered simply as he walked away. Sakura sighed in failure, 'All I had to do was ask him about Christmas or gifts and I screwed up again.' She watched the young Uchiha walk away, seeing him sigh as well._

Then suddenly an alarm went off. A head full of pink, unkempt bed hair immediately rose from the pillow into a beam of sunlight illuminating from the window. Sakura's breathing was loosely out of control, but was soon taken under control. She let out a disappointed sigh, 'Just a dream.' The young Haruno girl grudgingly rolled out of her bed, knowing that the dream world would possibly be the only place she would be able to see her Sasuke-kun ever again. Her morning routine began as usual, trudging towards the bathroom to wash up and head down the stairs of her small two-level home.

After the basic morning grooming acts, Sakura headed down the stairs, where she found her mother watching the television in the living room. "Good morning," her mother greeted her daughter with a familiar smile. Sakura, not in the most cheerful of moods, put up a façade of a smile and nodded. It was not that she didn't appreciate the greeting, but she had a very hard time having a genuine smile that reflected true happiness ever since Sasuke betrayed both the village and his close friends. Sakura turned to the TV, seeing shots of wild shoppers in the bigger cities of Japan on the news. Christmas was not a holiday very well renowned around the Konoha village, or any other Ninja Territory for that matter, with possibly the exception of the Snow Country. The religion Christmas finds its origins in is essentially nonexistent around the village, with a few exceptions, yet the villagers often found themselves in a cheerful, holiday-type mood around this time of the year anyways.

"Any plans for today Sakura-chan?" her mother asked politely.

"Hai, just going to visit Hokage-sama to continue training." Sakura made her way towards the door. She slipped on her sandals and opened the door, "I'm off mother."

---

"Oi Tsunade-baa chan!" an obnoxious, loud voice yelled from outside the street. The Fifth Hokage, despite the loud cacophony, kept her focus on the current paperwork in front of her. There were so many missions to assign, so many public affairs to straighten out that she had no time to entertain the obnoxious Kyuubi-child. The yelling continued and the annoyance slowly grew within the legendary Sannin.

"Hokage-sama?" Shizune, the loyal assistant that kept with the wild Tsunade even throughout the wandering, gambling years, looked questioningly at her boss. "I know it is a…bit loud around here, but we must get these papers done and filed today, it's of major…"

"I know you're listening Baa Chan, stop ignoring me!" the yelling only got louder.

Despite her attempts to keep cool, she finally lost it. "That's it," Tsunade stood up in a loud rage, "I'm going to kill Naruto!" She walked over to her window, "Naruto, shut the hell up before I…!" But before she could finish her sentence, a flying stone hit her directly in the face. The proud Hokage reeled back from the window, groaning in pain caused by the flying stone that smashed into her face. Shizune gasped in surprise as she rushed over to help the Fifth. "Tsunade-sama! Are you okay?" She removed the stone lodged in her face, seeing a trickle of blood from her nose. "I'll get the bandages immediately." Shizune said as she opened a drawer in a nearby desk. Suddenly, as if someone was waiting outside, the door swung open with authority. "I knew you were up here Baa Chan!" Naruto stomped in. He noticed the bleeding nose on the much older Kunoichi, "What happened to your nose?" Naruto asked pointing to the angered and annoyed face of the Hokage.

"Naruto…" Tsunade's voice trembled in anger, "This was caused by you, you little brat!" She swung her fist, bouncing the solid, battle-hardened bludgeon against the blond hair covered head of the young Uzumaki. "I didn't do anything!" Naruto groaned, trying to rub away the pain that has been inflicted on his skull.

"I'm not an idiot," Tsunade continued her scolding, "you threw that rock trying to get my attention and it, by chance, hit me in my face." Naruto's face showed nothing more than utter confusion and soon Tsunade finally surrendered. She sighed, "I'll let that one slide then," Tsunade said, with a low muttering following the right of passage, "idiot…Now, what do you want?" she asked, turning her back to the teenager.

"Permission to go after Sasuke," he punched his left hand with his right fist in determination, "I…"

"'…Must keep my word. Its my Way of the Ninja,' I know Naruto, but like I said yesterday, the day before, last week, and the entire last month, I can't let you do that." Tsunade took her seat again, taking the tissue from Shizune and wiping away her own blood. "You're still not qualified to go after him…"

'If Ero-Sennin was here helping me train and not chasing women, I'd probably be 'qualified.' Stupid pervert…' Naruto thought to himself as he listened to another excuse.

"…Besides," Tsunade continued, folding her arms and turning to face Naruto again, "it's almost Christmas, go enjoy it with your friends and the others in the village."

"I can't," Naruto was beginning to get riled up again, "knowing that Sasuke is out there won't let me 'relax.' I have to find him!" Tsunade sighed, obviously showing fatigue from the constant badgering from the energetic, rambunctious child in front of her. "You know what?" Tsunade searched around her desk, "I'll give you a mission, that should help with your training." 'And keeping you out of my hair for a while.'

Uzumaki folded his arms and huffed, "Fine, but it better not be some stupid mission." The Fifth unraveled a scroll, 'C Rank, won't be too hard.' She looked at the box that lay at the feet of the desk. 'Huh, guess I should make this part of it. "Alright, Naruto, you will team with Hyuuga Hinata and Nara Shikamaru to venture to the Village of Sand to give this." She lifted the box and put it on the desk, "to the Kazekage of the Sand."

"A gift for Gaara?" Naruto asked. He didn't necessarily see Gaara as the type to accept a gift, but it would be a good time to visit the relatively newly acquainted friend seeing that last time they seen each other was the incident with Sasuke.

"You could say that." Tsunade said, "You must be very careful with this package Naruto. It is of dire importance that you take extremely good care of this package. I'll inform your teammates of the mission later. Understood?" Naruto nodded. "Good."

---

Sakura continued to walk down the streets of Konoha, feeling slightly better from that morning, but it wasn't much of an improvement. Before that dream she had, she was coping somewhat well with the loss of the surviving Uchiha to the evil Legendary Sannin Orochimaru, but that dream brought back the sickening fact that it's the happiest time of the year and the one she wants to spend time with the most is gone, leaving with no real reason but revenge and a quest for power. And those facts ate at the insides of the young kunoichi constantly. It seemed like such a long time ago, but in reality it was merely a few months ago.

Sakura's thoughts came to a sudden halt as she ran into a person. "Ah," she yelped in surprise as she bounced back and hit the ground, "oh, I'm sorry!" She immediately got up and bowed in apology.

"Sakura-san?" a familiar voice questioned. The pink-haired girl slowly lifted her head, seeing who was the one addressing her. To her surprise, it was Neji of the Hyuuga clan. "Oh, Neji, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I accidentally…"

"Don't worry about it Sakura-san." Neji immediately accepted her apology, "just be a bit more careful." He smiled slightly, which was very uncharacteristic of his normal behavior. The Hyuuga clansman quickly passed the female and continued his business. Sakura looked back, seeing the back of Neji as he walked away. She couldn't help but smile, he was more polite than usual, but she usually saw him in a training situation or talking to his teammates, so it was a bit of surprise to see him act that way. Haruno turned around again and continued with her current agenda. A few short moments later, she finally made it to her destination.

Sakura walked up the stairs until she came to the doors of the main office. Inside she could hear a conversation that the Hokage was having with two people. Being polite, she stepped down from the door and waited off to the side for the meeting to end, 'Tsunade-sama is probably assigning a mission.' As she waited patiently for her session with the Hokage, she overheard some of the mission. Some details about a delivery of some sort were overheard yet Sakura kept to her own business, but a comment was heard about Sasuke and she became interested. She sneaked up to the door and placed her ear against the heavy oak door.

"…And I assume this will help with the Sasuke issue." A male voice was where Sakura picked up the conversation.

"Or at least to get his mind off of it for a little." Tsunade answered.

"Hai, understood." The male voice said again. Sakura tried to match the voice with the face of whom she knows, but before long she found out as the door slowly swung open. "Sakura?" there stood Shikamaru looking at the medical ninja in training, "Shikamaru." She greeted the only one of the Genin to pass the dreaded Chuunin exam. A moment later, Hinata walked out of the door as well, greeting the medical ninja in training as well. "Sakura-san." She bowed. Sakura smiled at the shy Hyuuga heiress. She was so polite and shy Sakura couldn't help but smile.

"Well, I have to go prepare for the mission." Shikamaru waved to both kunoichi, "its so troublesome, but whatever. See you two later."

"I should prepare too," Hinata quickly said, seeing how the team leader took such an initiative on the mission. But before she left, Sakura stopped her to ask a question, "Hinata, who are your partners for the mission?" Hinata turned to the pink-haired girl, "Shikamaru-kun and Naruto-kun." She answered, with the familiar lack of confidence in her voice. A tinge of pink flushed the Hyuuga girl's face at the mention of Naruto. Sakura nodded, "I see. Well then, good luck on your mission." Hinata smiled again and hurried to prepare. Sakura headed into the office to begin her training, but before she began, she couldn't help but ask about the mission.

"Um, Tsunade-sama," Sakura timidly began, "I know you aren't supposed to reveal missions, but what is the mission you assigned to Naruto?"

"A simple delivery." Tsunade answered. Sakura sighed slightly, thinking it was actually involved with the Sasuke issue. After the question, she immediately began her training under the watchful eye of the Legendary Sannin. 'Sakura, I know you too have not coped well with the Sasuke issue.' Tsunade thought as she continued to observe her pupil. 'Maybe this season will change your mood for the better as well.'

---

"Oi Naruto," Shikamaru greeted his friend and teammate for the mission as he walked into the small ramen stand.

"Shikamaru," Naruto greeted back, enjoying another bowl or ramen. He slurped up the bowl of soup and forcefully slammed it down on the old, wooden counter. He looked into his wallet to pay for the meal, but to his discontent, he found the small frog purse completely empty. "Eh…" Naruto groaned in displeasure and annoyance.

"So troublesome," Shikamaru sighed as he laid out money for his friend, "you owe me Naruto." The young Uzumaki chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "Um, yeah," he said nervously as they both left the ramen stand. "We have our mission tomorrow," Shikamaru informed, "It shouldn't be too hard Naruto, try not to complicate things okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto strolled along with his team leader, with his hands behind his head. "How hard is it to deliver a gift to Gaara anyway?"

"We have to make sure that delivery gets there in one piece," Shikamaru said, "I don't think there should be any issues, but we still have to be prepared for anything."

"We'll get that delivery there on time, you can count on it." Naruto promised, "I'll see you and Hinata tomorrow then. Later!" Naruto said as he walked into his apartment complex, leaving the leader Nara Shikamaru standing in the street. He sighed as he began walking again. 'I wonder why that package is so important.' Shikamaru thought as he continued to wander the streets of Konoha. He turned to his left to see a few signs reading "Happy Holidays!" 'Huh, I guess this whole Holiday and Christmas thing is beginning to spread around here. It so troublesome though…'

---

The sun slowly set on the Hidden Village of the Leaf. A hue of purple, orange, and red painted the late afternoon sky, dawning upon the coming of evening. Sakura opened the door of the office, "I'll see you tomorrow Tsunade-sama. Thank you for today." She bowed to her superior. Tsunade smiled, "Yes. Good job today, I shall see you bright and early tomorrow." Sakura accepted the compliment, smiling at the fact that she was actually becoming strong, just like Naruto…and Sasuke. Her smile suddenly diminished to a saddened frown. "What's the matter?" The Hokage asked, both seeing and sensing the young kunoichi's sadness.

Sakura shook off the negative feelings, "Oh, nothing, I was just…" Sakura searched for words, but was unable to find any. She sighed.

"We are all concerned about Sasuke," Tsunade began, "but around this time of the year, all of us should be focused on what we have in front of us. Sakura, you have your family, you have your teammates, and you even have Naruto." She shrugged, "we, including myself, are working hard on a plan to get Sasuke back. I know traditionally we don't celebrate the holidays in Konoha, but try to enjoy the spirit and put this Sasuke business on the side for now."

"Yeah," the smile returned, albeit half-heartedly. "I'll see you again tomorrow Hokage-sama." She bowed again as she made her way down the staircase. As she reached the foot of the staircase, she looked down the street to see an exhausted Neji slowly making his way down the street. Without thinking much about the act, Sakura walked over to the fatigued, slightly older ninja. "Hello Neji."

Neji looked up from the ground despite his tired state, and once he saw it was Sakura, his face showed a faint sign of sudden energy. The eyes of the Byakugan bloodline user, "hello Sakura-san." Sakura noticed the slight change of mood in the Hyuuga boy's face. She smiled, "I see you have been training really hard."

Neji nodded, "yeah, I still have much more to do. I will probably never see the end of training. How has your training with Hokage-sama been?"

"Very good. I've been learning a lot." Sakura continued the conversation. For some inexplicable reason, the conversation flowed quite easily with Neji. It surprised her much more than she thought at first as the conversation slowly came to an end after a good hour of random chat. "I better go home," Neji said as a sigh of fatigue escaped his parched mouth. His grey eyes seemed to lose its energy again, despite the refreshing conversation with the fellow ninja. "Good-bye Sakura-san."

Sakura smiled again waved as the tired boy limped away slowly, "Good-bye Neji-kun." She turned to leave as well, but turned around again for a final greeting, "oh, and Happy Holidays." Hyuuga turned around, a bit surprised by the greeting and the sudden change in the name, "y…yeah, you too."

---

A/N: Well, hope you enjoyed it . I'll be working hard on the second (and probably the final) part, working to get it out by Christmas day or at least New Years. Hope I didn't screw with the characters too much . Thanks for reading, please R&R, and Happy Holidays!

DeXstrosity the LdOFDestruction (aka -Evolved Spirit KitsuDeXstrosity)


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